3 dead, 6 wounded in block party shooting
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three people were killed and six others were wounded early Monday when multiple people fired into a crowd at a celebration, police said. Five others were hit by vehicles.
The shooting happened at an impromptu block party in Charlotte that was a continuation of Juneteenth celebrations, said CharlotteMecklenburg Police Deputy Chief Gerald Smith. No arrests have been made.
About 400 people gathered on the north side of the city when someone in the crowd was struck during a hitandrun accident, Smith said. Police responding to the scene heard shots being fired. Investigators believe more than one person fired weapons because videos recorded sounds from guns of different calibers. Authorities recovered around 100 casings from the scene.
Smith said no motive was known for the shooting. He said the situation grew so chaotic after the arrival of authorities that a rescue team had to be sent into the crowd to pull people “off the backs of our firefighters” who were treating people hurt at the scene.
Smith also acknowledged that some officers had weapons drawn as they sought to gain control.
“They were doing the best that they can to make sense out of something that is chaotic, a mass casualty scene,” he said.
Smith said no witnesses have come forward to describe how or why the shooting started and urged the public to help with the investigation.
“Out of the 400 people there, someone saw something,” he said.
Police said a woman was found shot dead at the scene, while a man was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital. They were identified as 29yearold Kelly Miller and 28yearold Christopher Antonio Gleaton. Later Monday, a third victim died, 39yearold Jamaa Keon Cassell.
Juneteenth, for which celebrations started Friday, commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free 155 years ago.